We have our answer about McCain, it wasn't the tumor that made him go left.

Here is a listing of Senate seats up in 2018, with incumbents and likely challengers.

There is more to gain than to lose.

quote:

For years, the GOP accumulated power almost exclusively on this single issue. They voted for it when they knew it wouldn't become law....and then refused to vote for it when it would matter. It's treachery and deceit. It's cowardice. It is contempt for the voters that gave them their jobs.

Yes.

quote:

The only real option is a whole bunch of new primary challenges in 2018 and beyond. It's an uphill battle, but what is the choice?

The voters have to start taking primary challenges seriously. It's an uphill battle because of the many advantages of incumbency. The swamp includes many Republicans. It's time to go after them.

Words cannot describe my anger and disdain at this trickery. I expected it though.

And this is why I no longer claim to be a Republican and I refuse to donate to the RNC. I would like to donate to Trump himself and his team, but I'll be damned if I give any money to the RINOs that don't keep their promises.

Tony.

A McCain TV ad few short months ago - in politics I guess that's ancient history....



Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...8_Jolt&utm_term=Jolt

Quote from this ad, re: his opponent. "Her proudest vote [for Obamacare] put us all at risk."

I think all the voters from their home states should show up at the state capitals and demand their resignations for fraudulent campaigning.

Tony.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
All we have gone through for the last 8 years, and seven REP senators stop a REPEAL of obamacare.

What worthless POS:

Collins
Heller
Capito
Murkowski
Alexander
McCain
Portman

All except Collins voted for repeal previously when they knew Obama would veto. Cowards. Absolute gutless cowards. Freakin' phonies. If you had any, I'd pray for you all to choke on your shame.

I foresee primary challenges for the lot of them. That said, we are stuck with most of this lot for a good long time.

2018
Heller

2020
Collins
Capito
Alexander

2022
Murkowski
Portman
McCain (doubtful he will serve that long - health issues)

I 'believe' there are 23 Dem senate seats and 2 Independent senate seats (that caucus with the Dems) up for election in 2018. If we could hold the seats we have now and win half of those Dem seats while putting even mildly conservative people in them, we could tell McCain, Collins, and Murkowski to go FOAD as has been suggested. That would make their votes, not unlike their existent, completely irrelevant.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
Rest of DEMs voted "present"

Not one DEM voted for it

But they didn't vote against it either, did they. The Dem's are filth. We know that without a 'show' vote like this. I'm sick to death of the theatrics of this worthless Congress. There needs to be a huge blood letting in 2018 to replace as much of this garbage as possible, and to send those that remain yet another message.

This is a prime example of why 75% of the people disapprove of the job congress is doing. They don't care about the people, they only want to keep their membership in their exclusive little club. And that goes for both parties, Democrats and Republicans.

We must NEVER give up repealing Obamacare.
(we don't have a choice. Healthcare in America is degrading and skyrocketing in cost)

We thought we only had to vote out enough Democrats. We were wrong.

We need to vote out a bunch of Republicans too.

Once Obamacare collapses and takes the rest of the insurance industry with it, and that day is coming soon, I fear people will clamor for single payer and the stupid Republicans will bend over and spread cheek for the Dems who will naturally happen to have a plan all ready to go.

I checked Rob Portman's facebook page. Half the people are roasting him (as they should), the other half are begging him to pass single payer healthcare. I can't believe there are people out there who think a government run healthcare is good for anybody except the politicians who will control it.

And to the senators who said they voted no because there wasn't a viable replacement, I say bullshit. Why do we have to replace Obamacare with anything?


http://www.americanthinker.com...e_with_anything.html

Why Replace Obamacare with Anything?

By Claire Hawks

Obamacare, like almost everything the government is in charge of, is undoubtedly a disaster and needs to be repealed. Why should it be replaced with anything? We already have an extensive Medicaid program, which was supposedly designed to provide a safety net for those unable to afford insurance. Like most if not all government programs, it is rife with fraud and abuses.

Medicare is another disaster. The majority of people think this is a free government program that pays 80% of everything. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Seniors pay for Medicare, and Medicare pays for 80% of what Medicare thinks you should have been billed. For example, if your doctor charges you $200 for an annual exam, Medicare might decide that you should have been charged only $100, and it will pay 80%, or $80, of that amount. The Medicare enrollee is left with a bill for $120. That's why almost all seniors have what is called "gap" insurance, a secondary insurance, which can be costly but pays most or all of the gap left between what you are billed and what Medicare pays. The same holds true for all medical testing and hospitalizations.

One of the popular narratives for replacing Obamacare is that so many people were uninsured before its passage and need to be insured. What I haven't heard is who these people are. I know that a good portion of them are young people who choose not to have health insurance. Since when did the government decide how a person should live his life? And should it?

Another portion are those with pre-existing conditions. Unless someone was born with congenital defects, these people are also mostly those who chose not to have insurance until they acquired a medical problem; were without insurance; and found that insurance, once they had this problem, was very costly. There may be some companies, if you are going from job to job, who will not cover you if you have a pre-existing condition, but I'm not aware of any.

Compare health insurance with car insurance. If you feel you are an incredibly safe driver and choose not to have any, or adequate, insurance, what happens if you are in a serious and costly collision? It certainly isn't the responsibility of the government to bail you out for your poor choice. And if you try, after this costly collision, to increase your auto insurance or get insurance, you will probably find yourself in a high-risk pool paying incredible amounts of money. No one expects the American taxpayers to pay for your poor decisions.

So why should the American taxpayers pay for your poor medical decisions? They shouldn't.

Another thing touted as popular is keeping children on their parents' policy until they are 26 years old. This sounds good, but 26-year-olds are not children. By all indices, they are adults. Yes, a lot of them are still living at home – but why? What are they doing with their money? Looking at the adult children of people I know, they are having a wonderful time, spending their money on cars I can't afford at 72 because I realize that Medicare pays very little of hospital bills and I need a good secondary insurance, clothes, and miscellaneous other things. These young people are the ones who probably, when they turn 26, won't get their own insurance. Again, should the taxpayers be responsible for their poor decisions and priorities?

It seems to be all about priorities. There are certain things in life that should be a priority. Medical insurance should be one of those. There's an idea for a mandatory high school class – what is a priority and how to establish those priorities. But that would be a sensible, worthwhile class and definitely not part of the liberal agenda.

Another reason against government health care is that, legally, no one is ever turned away from a hospital based on ability to pay. I spent years working in information technology with hospital accounting. I know not only how many millions of dollars in only free care were provided by the hospital, but how many millions of dollars were written off as bad debts and how many debts were worked out with patients for a nominal monthly charge – with no late fees or charges. If a hospital accepts Medicare and Medicaid, it is required to provide a certain amount of "charitable" care or risk losing its funding from these sources. Not only that, but every hospital I have been associated with has staff who specifically assist people who are uninsured to apply for Medicaid.

There is no magic formula for deciding what any individual needs in health insurance, just as there isn't a magic formula for deciding what type of auto insurance an individual needs. This is a personal decision and should be made by the persons directly involved – not the government and definitely not by Congress, whose members live in their elitist bubble and have a wonderful health care program and know almost nothing about medical insurance.

Government insurance is just another step toward socialized medicine, where the government will be deciding not only what type and amount of insurance you need, but how you should be cared for.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I fear people will clamor for single payer and the stupid Republicans will bend over and spread cheek for the Dems who will naturally happen to have a plan all ready to go.

Nancy will have it all teed up:

In a press conference Friday, Pelosi thanked Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) for breaking with their party and standing up to the Trump administration.

"I want to thank Senator McCain for establishing a higher level of participation as to how we should proceed,"

I wonder if the Republicans truly know how much this is going to cost them in the coming elections. Whether they had a hand in the initial passing of Obamacare or not they are responsible for it now. They are in charge. And as everyone who has ever been in charge of anything before knows, your fault or not you are going to be held accountable. They were given everything they needed to get this done by the American people and they failed.

Say hello to single payer everyone.

Is it possible for Trump to issue an EO that specifies that Congress' sweet insurance deal is forthwith null and void? i.e. They suddenly find themselves in the same boat as Joe Plumber?

Wouldn't that be the cat's pajamas!!!

RMD

quote:

Seniors pay for Medicare, and Medicare pays for 80% of what Medicare thinks you should have been billed. For example, if your doctor charges you $200 for an annual exam, Medicare might decide that you should have been charged only $100, and it will pay 80%, or $80, of that amount. The Medicare enrollee is left with a bill for $120.

Some of your post is incorrect. If the doctor accepts Medicare the doctor cannot balance bill. If the Medicare allowable is 120 dollars the doctor is stuck with that as the full charge. That is the reason that many physicians are deciding to not accept Medicare. The Government sets the allowable charge, which is often a fraction of the cost. The Government, aka CMS sets the fees.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
If we could hold the seats we have now and win half of those Dem seats while putting even mildly conservative people in them, we could tell McCain, Collins, and Murkowski to go FOAD as has been suggested. That would make their votes, not unlike their existent, completely irrelevant.

That's how it's done. With a little luck McConnell might be invited to pass the Majority Leader position on to someone else, too. He'll still be in the Senate for four years, so his wizardry is really needed it can still be tapped - unless (as may happen) he throws a four-year hissy fit.

The part that will eat people is that we're basically gambling on winning big in 2018. Which is exactly what McConnell seems to be doing. Primaries are going to be the key; the Republican Senate Reelection Committee or whatever they call it will be working for McConnell & Co., so the Committee may have a nasty tendency to back RINOs rather than the aggressive.

Ted Cruz: “No Party Can Remain In Power By Lying To The American People”

After seven years of the repeated promise that Obamacare would be repealed once Republicans had the power to do so has come to naught, conservative voters feel betrayed.

Cruz, who voted in favor of the “skinny repeal,” is correct in saying that Americans who voted for Republicans based on this promise now feel a sense of anger.

“There are going to be a great many Americans who tonight feel a sense of betrayal — feel a sense of betrayal that politicians made a promise,” Cruz told Fox News directly after the latest repeal effort failed.

“I’ll tell you this, if you stand up and campaign and say we’re going to repeal ObamaCare and you vote for ObamaCare, those are not consistent,” he added. “And the American people are entirely justified in saying, ‘Any politician who told me that and voted the other didn’t tell me the truth; they lied to me.’ ”

The “skinny repeal,” a measure dedicated to repealing parts of the Obamacare early Friday morning, failed with three Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and John McCain (Ariz.) — voting with the Democrats to reject the bill.

All three Republican Senators who voted against the “skinny repeal” campaigned on the promise to repeal to Obamacare. Last night, they once again voted against doing so.

Cruz, who has consistently supported a full repeal, said last week that Republicans would “look like fools” if they failed to repeal and replace Obamacare.

“You can’t have your central promise for seven years be we’ll repeal ObamaCare, and then you show up and vote not even to take up the bill to consider repealing ObamaCare,” he said.

“I’ve said many times, if we fail to get this done, I think, collectively, Republicans will look like fools,” he concluded.

You can't make it any more plain and simple.

quote:

Originally posted by rduckwor:
Is it possible for Trump to issue an EO that specifies that Congress' sweet insurance deal is forthwith null and void? i.e. They suddenly find themselves in the same boat as Joe Plumber?

Wouldn't that be the cat's pajamas!!!

RMD

I'm not sure. I believe Trump could executive order the rules change that allowed the house and senate and their aids to be considered as a small business group making them eligible for 75% subsidies under Obama care. That would put them all in the same mess that the rest of us are stuck in.